Little Audible Links
by Happiness's Deceit
Summary: Loveless!AU - By the time Lelouch Lamperouge graduates from the Ashford Academy of Wordspell Arts, the students already know one thing: "If you bother Nunnally la Britannia, the Zero unit will obliterate you."


A/N: This Sacrifice/Fighter/Wordspell system in this story is based on the _Loveless_ manga by Kouga Yun. If you aren't familiar with it or want a refresher, the following paragraph may be helpful for you. If you are familiar with it, please feel free to skip this next paragraph. The following paragraph has some of my own interpretations of the _Loveless_ system.

_Quick Review__: _A complete unit (2 people) consists of a Fighter and a Sacrifice with the same Name. Fighters can use commands (i.e. tear, rend, hide) to alter their environment as well as attack/defend, but they are limited by their bodies; thus they can not do more damage/protection than they would be capable of physically. Sacrifices have three roles: (1) to amplify their Fighter's abilities, (2) to command the Fighter in battle and (3) to take damage in the fight in the form of restraints. Each paired unit will have a unique Name (i.e. Loveless) that appears as a scar in the same place on both the Sacrifice and the Fighter (i.e. the thumb). A unit can be formed with people who have different Names, but this pair will be weaker than a unit with the same Name. A wordspell battle is one between two units where commands (i.e. tear, rend, hide) are used by Fighters to do "damage" to the other team's Sacrifice. Successfully dealt damage takes the form of physical bonds; when the other Sacrifice is immobilized, you have won the wordspell battle.

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**Little Audible Links**

_"Words are but the vague shadows of  
the volumes we mean. __Little audible  
links, they are, chaining together  
great inaudible feelings and purposes."  
- Theodore Dreiser_

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**Part 1. Future.**

By the time Lelouch Lamperouge graduates from the Ashford Academy of Wordspell Arts, the students already know one thing: _If you bother Nunnally Lamperouge, the Zero unit will obliterate you. _It is as potent as a word spell, a sharp ring of a bell in the deep recesses of the inner ear. Lamperouge is not the Fighter of the Zero unit, but he is dangerous; his will and his mind put him at the top of his class and he is not to be trifled with.

It would be preferable, some whisper, that Lamperouge was a Fighter- because formidable as he is with words, he would be limited, weakened by his own body. Lamperouge's physical frailty would be the cage of his abilities. Instead he is the Sacrifice, the amplifier, and they are screwed.

Because Lamperouge's body? Lamperouge's body is just transport for a mind of steel, and everyone knows that Lamperouge's one delicate point is his sister. The older students remember the day Lelouch found out Nunnally Lamperouge had a Name. They say that all the Fighters in the school wept, that the sorrow was so consuming that one Fighter passed out and the rest were incoherent for hours. They say that Lamperouge was granted special permission to contact his sister to temper that desolation with her presence.

The older Fighters in the school remember the feeling of Nunnally Lamperouge, passed through the filter that was Lelouch Lamperouge's mind. So there is no doubt that Lamperouge will tear them apart to protect that peace.

And Lamperouge's Fighter, Suzaku Kururugi, won't hesitate to break his opponent on an ordinary day. For a purpose like the protection of Lamperouge's beloved sister, they whisper, surely he will be even more violent, and Sacrifice Lamperouge's will shall amplify his power until they annihilate the unit that stands against them.

Such is the strength of the Zero unit.

They say that Kururugi came before Lamperouge, but that he was able to defeat other (_complete_) units with little trouble. And even now, he never hesitates to battle alone when Lamperouge is concerned with other matters. They say that Kururugi is the ultimate Fighter, capable of tearing steel with his words, and that Lamperouge is his perfect match. For once Kururugi had his Sacrifice, they ripped apart the competition until they stood above the tattered remains of all previous records.

Still, others whispered that they were not a _true_ unit, that they didn't share a Name. Surely strength like that would not be natural?

When it was rumored that Milly Ashford, the granddaughter of the Dean of Ashford Academy, had seen Lamperouge's Name, she was sought out by many curious students. When questioned, she would lead the interrogator on a merry chase through the campus and give a tour rife with history of the land and school itself. And, if they were still present afterwards, she traced her right collar but said nothing else.

Courageous students took to her advice and plotted to expose Kururugi's Name. Aborted attempts were made in the baths, in the locker rooms, and his private dorm room. It was soon decided that they would best be attempted in spell battle; after, small injuries and torn clothing were common enough.

A few months of directed spells later, they exposed the paired name: _ZERO_ identically carved into the flesh; a bond more close than marriage.

The resulting wounds from this attempt are collectively as follows: four broken noses, one broken clavicle, five broken toes and/or fingers, three cracked ribs, one shattered humerus, five black eyes, and countless bruises of various intensity. It should be noted here that spell battles are unusually violent when the Zero unit are participating.

So it is with great trepidation that Ashford Academy await Nunnally Lamperouge's arrival into their halls. One year, it's said, and the class graduating this year breathes a sigh of relief.

Wimps.

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**End Part 1 of 16.**

The tone of this story will vary from light-hearted to dark, and Suzaku/Lelouch will be one of the final pairings.  
Thanks for reading!


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